Sean Wise

Topics

Presentations

Hot or Not? How to know if your business idea $uck$
During this educational and entertaining keynote, Professor Wise shares multimedia clips from reality shows highlighting the key questions that need to be asked before: you quit your job? Drop out of school? Mortgage the family farm. Find out what makes some ideas fly while others fail. This keynote will be inspiring and instructive for anyone who has ever dreamed of changing the world or even just starting a business.

If Social Networks are the Org Charts of 21st Century Business, what Shape Should Yours Be?
For when knowledge flows, efficiency grows! Wise will illustrate in real time the differing shape of profitable ventures. Some whose aim is innovation while others focus on efficiency. Our world is no longer solely based on the scarcity of physical goods. In the 21st Century, sharing of non-diminishable digital assets is the cornerstone of economic production, and knowledge is fast becoming the key asset of production. Successful organizations use collective intelligence that includes Crowdsourcing and Knowledge Network Topology to evolve their knowledge networks and drive performance.  The internal knowledge process represents the most vital source of sustainable competitive advantage for firms. Wise discusses how to measure how well a firm is leveraging their knowledge, how to find bottlenecks and other barriers and how to determine if knowledge investments are paying returns.

Entrepreneurship for the Enterprise
YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and their sort have once again brought entrepreneurship to the forefront of the economy. Innovation and grass roots marketing have become the buzz words for big and small companies alike. But what can big business learn from the world of startups? What can large enterprise executives learn from fast growing entrepreneurs?

Inside the Dragons' Den
What you can learn from this runaway television success story in a multimedia behind-the-scenes presentation. Dragons' Den is now in its seventh season.

Wise Words: Setting Yourself up for Business Success
If you or your organization is interested in becoming more successful, showing your value, learning from high growth entrepreneurs, or raising capital, Sean's "Wise Words" to business success will help you.

Summary Profile

Sean Wise specializes in helping emerging and high growth potential organizations jump on the trajectory and turn a profit. His intense, entertaining and direct approach has earned him a loyal following of disciples who swear by his lessons and best practices for business success.

With nine years of professional services and more than 15 years of entrepreneurial services to his credit, Wise has helped found five business ventures of his own to date, the first at age 16. When seeking the best in business, CBC recruited him as online host and industry advisor for their hit show, Dragons' Den.

Wise is also a popular writer with his Globe and Mail column and book of the same name: Wise Words: Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital. In his latest book, How to be a Business Superhero, Wise takes audiences on a guided tour through the world of superheroes and their lessons, directly relating them to essential business strategies we all need to master in order to succeed in today's workplace. Wise's third book, HOT OR NOT: how to know if your business idea will fail or fly! is due mid 2012.

A professor of entrepreneurship at the Ted Rogers School of Business at Ryerson, Wise majored in engineering and economics at Carleton University and earned a law degree and MBA from the University of Ottawa. Wise helped found Ernst & Young's Venture Capital Advisory Group in Canada and has helped clients raise more than $2.5 billion after training with him.

Wise is a great fit for any business audience, particularly small businesses and those that count entrepreneurs as their clients. He is a natural storyteller with a direct, knowledgeable style and an unmistakable passion for business.

Client Testimonials:

 "He brings valuable insights, a direct and frank dialogue, a willingness and enthusiasm to help a company succeed and his own proven track record to share experiences."

Senior Partner, Ernst & Young 

"Interesting, motivating, and inspiring. His passion for work clearly shone through as he shared his past experiences and knowledge on what it takes to create a successful business venture."

Queen's Entrepreneurs' Competition